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Ed McKeon presents a concert celebrating the 50th birthday of one of England's most distinctive composers.

Laurence Crane Weirdi
Juliet Fraser (soprano)

Laurence Crane Piano Piece no.23 'Ethiopian Distance Runners'
Roderick Chadwick (piano)

Laurence Crane Octet
Ensemble Plus-Minus

Plus a report from Off The Page, the UK's first literary festival for music, held in Whitstable last month.

Laurence Crane's music is minimal but also drolly humorous. His early piece Weirdi is a set of five songs, to his own surreal and anecdotal texts, for soprano, with clarinet, cello and piano. It includes a song about a "new music weirdo" who "likes Donatoni", and another about seeing the violinist Alexander Balanescu in Safeways buying organic broccoli.
Piano Piece No.23, 'Ethiopian Distance Runners' is his first long work for his own instrument. It is a slow, quiet work with an intense concentration that might suggest the mental state of the long-distance runner.
The Octet is scored for the intriguing line-up of violin, cello, electric guitar, clarinet and bass clarinet, accordion, electric organ, piano and homemade percussion, creating a richly harmonic sound-world.
This concert by Anglo-Belgian ensemble Plus-Minus was recorded at Kings Place in London last month.

Writing about music is notoriously difficult, because music is often abstract and operates beyond words. But good writers can illuminate the experience of listening to music, and this was explored by Off The Page, the UK's first literary festival for music, held in Whitstable last month. Ed McKeon attended and discussed ways of writing about music with participants, including editor of The Wire magazine, Rob Young, writer and conceptual artist Kodwo Eshun, and composer, performer and writer David Toop.